Egypt, EU, UNDP, British Embassy Mark 1st Milestone of “Combating Child Marriage” Campaign

Egypt's Ministry of Social Solidarity, the EU Delegation to Egypt, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the British Embassy celebrated together the first milestone of the “Combatting Child Marriage” campaign under the ‘Strengthening Institutional and Human Resources Capacities of Ministry of Social Solidarity’ project.

This campaign was focused specifically on combating the marriages of young girls who are between 15 and 17 years.

According to a joint statement released by these institutions, the campaign for Combating Child Marriage marked complements and supports the Ministry’s ongoing strategy to ensure that beneficiaries of the cash transfer program will lose their benefits if they marry their children before the age of 18.

The two-month campaign was launched online and among communities through the “Waai Programme for Community Development”. The campaign raises awareness among target families about the negative effects of child marriage as well as the various rights of children, especially girls, that are inevitably interlinked.

It also highlights how child marriage hinders education, increases health risks, and limits development opportunities.

To date, the campaign has reached around 32.5 million views on different social media platforms including MoSS official pages and national media websites.

In her address, Minister of Social Solidarity H.E. Dr. Nivine El-Kabbag said: “The Covid 19 pandemic has caused the most vulnerable groups to become poorer and more vulnerable, as job opportunities especially in the informal job market have decreased, thus inflicting growing poverty rates in Egypt and around the world.

"The economic challenges have contributed to the rise of harmful traditional practices such as child marriage and trafficking of girls; this violates the rights of children mainly, and specifically girls.”

She also highlighted that “To accommodate the increasing demands and challenges of vulnerable groups, the Ministry of Social Solidarity had to expand its’ social safety nets and social protection programs to accommodate the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, furthermore, with more children staying from school, MoSS had to invest further in sponsoring children of vulnerable families to stay in the education system without burdening parents with additional costs including receiving internet packages to meet the requirements of virtual learning methods.

"Simultaneously, MoSS introduced the child marriage conditionality to the Takaful Conditional Cash Transfer Program, yet complimented the condition with supportive schemes to keep children of vulnerable families in schools through the equal opportunities for education program (500 million LE for the education of Takaful & Karama Program) that promotes providing students of high merit and excellence to join university or college education, thus eventually enhancing them to help their families to break the multi-dimensional poverty cycle.”

The Protection of children’s rights is a core commitment of the European Union. The practice of child marriage endangers children’s rights and challenges gender equality and exposes child brides to serious abuse and health risks. We are glad to be part of this successful campaign which increases the awareness of all issues concerning early marriage,” said the EU HOD Ambassador H.E. Christian Berger.

Chargé d’affaires at the British Embassy, Qudsi Rasheed said: “I am delighted to see the launching today of this timely and vitally important campaign helping to prevent child marriage in Egypt."

"The UK is clear that every girl deserves to be able to realize her full potential. By helping to educate girls, their families, and their communities about the damage child marriage can do, the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity, supported by the UK, the EU, and UNDP, is making a real difference to millions of people across Egypt."

In the same connection, she pointed out, "Educating girls is the right thing to do full stop and brings substantial economic and health benefits. I’m sure that this campaign will continue the great work of MoSS as part of the Waai program and help improve life outcomes for those who most need our support.”

Also in this regard, UNDP Resident Representative in Egypt Alessandro Fracassetti stated, “Child marriage is often attributed to specific customs and traditions. The main cause, however, is poverty- not only material poverty but also educational disadvantages and other obstacles to social mobility.

Ensuring the security and safety of young girls at risk of early marriage calls for significant and carefully targeted investment in education and economic empowerment. Thanks to the ministry and our donors, the EU and the UK, for their commitment and support to this important cause."

In Egypt, nearly one in twenty girls at that age are married, according to the latest population census of 2017.

With significant differences between rural and urban areas, the rate for girls aged 15 to 19 rises to one in ten.

Although the number of child marriages has decreased globally to roughly one in every five girls getting married today, the practice remains widespread.

It's worth mentioning that the ‘Strengthening Institutional and Human Resources Capacities of the Ministry of Social Solidarity’ project is funded by the European Delegation (EUR 6.8 million) and the UK (GBP 1.8 million). It is implemented by UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Social Solidarity.